A few dollars worth of angle iron, 4 casters, a touch of welding and Billy Bob is almost ready to roll. His feet were in a sorry state when he came to me; he'd been sitting in water and the bottom 4" of each leg was rotted. I cut them off to the nearest crosspiece, and both to get the height back and to make him mobile I made this setup. The angle iron is 1.75 x 1.75 x 1/8"
The casters are on plates welded to the already welded-up angle and then bolted through as the wheels are added. Each caster is rated at 250#, so if it all hangs together it should even roll under load.
Left all is ready for the solo get-me-upright tilt-down.
And, left, BB is tilted up onto his new base.
In both the pic above and the one to the left I have placed 2 red dots on the half-round casing that the drive screw is enclosed in and all else attached to. I did not remove this piece from the frame. It runs top to bottom between the cross pieces and a hole in it allows the shaft that the hand wheel bolts to egress. It doesn't show up well in pics once it is repainted in gloss black. It is casting #3280.
The handwheel is casting #485.
Below are three pics from 3 days later. BB is on his wheels; his wooden frame has been cleaned and oiled, and all the arn parts are cleaned, primed and done up in gloss black. The original color was black, but had rusted thru here and there. The contrast on the pics is poor, sorry. The blue piece is the hinged plywood flap that the motor sets on. It was added when he went over from line drive. I ran him before purchase and the arrangement works fine. It isn't very classy, but it is what he came with and so he keeps it.
0271
3263
3265
3276
3442
I put the casting numbers on the first BB page, but here I have put pics of the major castings with their respective numbers.
3277
An astute observer will note that the pic with 3277 in it is upside down. This is to give you an approximation of how it fits with the piece below, 3276, when put back together. I used beeswax and graphite in the cups that the ends of 3276 set in. BB had been previously greased and was jammed up. Use no grease around sawdust: that is the law.
This page was last updated on: August 14, 2006
3281
3268
3264
Above and right the fences. The tilting rip fence, see max. tilt at right, is two numbered pieces and 3264 is 24" long; it travels in a 'T' slot. The mitre, 3281, is 20.5" long.
Pulled the engine hoist into the shop to lift the 215# section of the table. The smaller section, 110#, was an easy lift at only half my body weight - don't I wish...
I am still having problems with leaks on the babbitt stove and am slowed down considerably.
Ok, it's a few days later and the babbitt problems are all solved.
The 2 hp repulsion/induction Craftsman motor runs as smooth as silk. Knocked off some rust and repainted. (I didn't really get blue all over the tag - some odd reflection.)
All is original. The compostion flat belt pulley is 3" dia. The motor is already wired for 240v.
I spent $25 for a box and a 15 amp breaker, and that is my switch. Motor simply bolts onto the floating shelf with 4 bolts; just the way I got it. Belt tension is by motor weight. I will fool with this to see if i can go with less tension and still not slip the belt.
Ran him about 10 minutes and the thrust bearing was hot enough that it was uncomfortable to handle. I am hoping this is just normal wearing in process. There is a lot of oil in the bearings.
Grabbed a short firewood log and ran it thru. The 16" blade sits 4.5" high at its max. If I bury the blade I can bog the motor. Easing up on the feed rate just a bit allows him to cut without any problem.
I can see why similar sized saws come with 5 hp motors. The blade is old and when sharpened will probably cut faster.
After half an hour run-in I found the bearings to be just warm. I tightened up the caps some and will continue to do so until I can no longer draw them down and still turn the blade easily by hand.
Still on the lookout to find out who made him, if anyone has any thoughts. And he will be going with an 18 to 20" blade soon. I still have to tweak the blade into square.
The four long bolts seen at left square the blade to the fence and table in one plane. There are 4 more short bolts below the babbitt box and they move the box up and down to get it square in the other plane.
The wooden throat plate is what came with him. It was delaminating, so I took it apart and reglued it with Gorilla Glue and gave it a coat of spar varnish. It shows up a few frames down.
